March 18, 2011

I 1PA hereby announce the result's oftomorrow's Sat Mar 19th 2011 Egyptian Referendum one day early today on Fri Mar 18th 2011 and the results will be a sweeping 'Yes' vote for the temporary constitution amendments.

Of course I'm no Nostradamus or magician, and it won't be via the usual forgery either.Details to follow after the results are announced, praying to be wrong.May God save Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Sudan and Libya.1PA

February 07, 2011

What many Egyptians on the ground really think of the Jan 25th Youth Revolution

On western Media:The majority of Egyptians are not interested in your coverage.Those that follow your broadcasts are highly insulted by the shallow narrow minded coverage, see below for Ikhwan Muslimeen - Muslim Brotherhood - and Western Governments meddling, & Mubarak family's wealth for details.

On Aljazeera:Aljazeera has once again proven itself as an extremely biased Qatari sock puppet, while the Qatar government itself in turn suffers from a severe inferiority complex and is willing to play the devil's agenda for a pat on the back, on the other hand many Egyptians take Aljazeera poison but in small doses like an antidote when they suspect they are not being told the truth, but trust me, no one accepts or tolerates the highly distorted biased image that Aljazeera keeps portraying. Actually Aljazeera's following had declined to almost Zero till the recent events.

On Western Governments Meddling:The majority of Egyptians see Western Governments as hypocritical vultures and bullies when it comes to Egyptian internal affairs, sometimes even worse, you finance and support dictators, you turn a blind eye to their atrocities, then you discard them when they no longer serve your interests, see Democracy and Human Rights below.

On El Baradei:The most personal blundered opportunity, that man could have led the youth if he believed in them, but unfortunately he lacked the charisma to lead and went on with his "Nobel Prize" obligations, he feared to face the system head on, and sadly when the youth did it, he had the audacity to scramble back to Egypt, hold a microphone among protesters and claim that he has the right to represent them with one million signed authorizations, which according to his site is less than 129 thousand by the way, his stuttering speech fooled no one and he was quickly dismissed by all youth and even the opposition. Baradei never saw in himself the capacity to lead, got afraid, then got greedy, then started back paddling, it's a shame for if he understood his own capacity better he could have been an excellent mentor and god father for change, all that and I'm not even touching the talks about his being a US puppet..

On the Opposition parties in Egypt:Nothing to say, unfortunately there's still none worth mentioning.

On Israel:You little slimy sleazy Zionist land stealing murderer of women and children enemy of the Egyptian people keep your dirty hands off Egyptian matters, the Egyptian people are fed up of your conniving slime, stop pretending to be any sort of neighbor or friend, you have proven to be neither and it is only a matter of time till you are met by forces that you can understand and respect, not one Egyptian today will hesitate to die for his country, more on river Nile and south Sudan Zionist conspiracies later.

On The Muslim Brotherhood:A weak power in Egypt with a huge following but in no way close to being a majority, they are not even that well organized, only loved when focusing on public services, feared, misunderstood, fought and even hated when meddling with politics, they only have a future as a civil charity if they know what's good for them and they mean well for their country, they are yet to come out clean with full intentions, and this will be one of the factors for their downfall.

On Iran:Stop meddling with Egyptian issues, your religious approach is a foreign language to Sunni Egyptians, your hypocrisy is blatant, the world saw how you oppress your own people, if your intents are truly that honorable, be a real threat to Israel not your own people and stay off your neighbors' internal affairs, you are turning into a laughingly failed copy of America (in Iranian words Devil) in meddling.

On Hamas & Fatah in Palestine:I'm not going to even talk to you, shame on you both, and may the brave Palestinian nation rise and overthrow both you and Israel.

On Democracy and Human Rights:You want it, you get it yourself, count on no one else, again NGO's, world media, the UN and western governments play the democracy and human rights as a negotiating card for their benefit, the game is transparent and known to all Egyptians, please stop dangling it as the prize, the people are hungry - even starving - for freedom and you're all are just playing with their food.

On Mubarak family's wealth:Really? Now? The western media suddenly found out about the 40 to 70 Billion Dollars stash?That was an expected pathetic and transparent stab, not defending Mubarak of course, but truly insulted for being taken for an idiot, when the right time comes we all are eager to know the truth on many things, and it will come, and there will be accountability and justice, till then please shut up.

On the Egyptian Army:These braves are from and to the Egyptian people, I am honestly scared for - not from - them, they were forced into a desperate situation and by the grace of God alone their managing to hang on to an impressive self discipline and control saved Egypt. They should not remain one more day in the Egyptian city streets, we all owe it to them to protect them and ourselves.

On The Egyptian Police:Many good men are there, but time for quick cleanup and Change, a considerable portion of that organization has been corrupted by power and its torture and financial corruption is THE main reason why the Egyptians are in a revolution today, leaderships change must be accompanied by quick re-qualification and re-education, what you got away with till last month is not going to be acceptable anymore.

On Hosni Mobarak:This man is mighty and Herculean to say the least, he stands against:The United StatedThe European UnionOther Arab countries including Qatar & HamasIranIsrael's interventionA failing economyHis own National Democratic Party NDPHis PoliceHis Peoplewill be interesting to know how he will be chalked in history.

On the Jan 25th Youth:Had to get a lot off my chest before addressing this beautiful surprise.To put it mildly, these guys inspired the love of Egypt back in all of us.They selflessly and courageously went out against serious odds and voiced what all Egyptians want: Change, Freedom, and Social Justice.The odds against them were Imprisonment, Torture, loss of career, and as it turned out for some, death!They humbled all Egyptians with their bravery and sacrifice.They renewed our faith that our country is fertile with greatness and things are not as bad as they seem.They gave birth to hope when all seemed decayed and lost.

My only advice to them is when things get too complicated and political, simplify and go back to the pure basics of what brought you together, make it your life's goal to see the murderers of your colleagues brought to justice, and set for yourself realistic achievable goals, mind the forces trying to separate you, forces trying to deviate your direction, and others trying to benefit from your sacrifice, keep it pure and simple, do not get dragged into a position where you are taking the Egyptian people hostage, let the next step be elections, and let's fight against forgery with our lives, that's how democracies survive,keep on inspiring us till we inspire you back.

On the chances of all this ever happening again in the future:I'm afraid not, and I truly hope I'm wrong.There was a rare 'perfect storm' combination of factors that seldom happen or exist all together or in sequence that contributed to the success of the Youth Jan 25th movement:A Weakening Ruler (in age, see On Hosni Mubarak above)A corrupt ruling party NDP ready to bail out on it's leaderEgyptian police & US intelligence failure regarding Facebook signalsAn unlikely Tunisian inspiration, with an unexpected outcome.

On my own personal position:I find myself neither supporting a non-stop protest revolution nor an oppressive regime, the middle ground is getting smaller and the options less with time, I've only quickly covered few basic points in a rush, more on each and on the future of Egypt later.

Finally here are some lighthearted humor that says a lot about the beauty of the Egyptian people even in adversity, a translation from Arabic so some of the meaning is lost:

- A tourist gets into an Egyptian taxi, he notices 3 pictures for the last 3 Egyptian presidentsthe tourist asks: - who's picture is that- that Abdelnasser, the leader of our Revolution- and that?- that's Anwar Sadat, our brave war & peace hero- and that?- that's the father of Gamal, the owner of this taxi

When Mobarak died, he met Nasser and Sadat, they asked him eagerly, was it poison, or was it a shootout in a military parade? Mobarak looked down and muttered .. it was Facebook

Mobarak asks his driver to tell him honestly how he scores compared to others- No sir you are much better than Nasser, he feared Russia- No sir, you are much better than Sadat, he feared America- No sir, you are much better than prophet Mohamed , he feared God

One last one, given the changes happening in all other Arab countries:It is rumored that the next Arab League Summit will be an orientation & a personal introduction summit

This is no secret and is publicly stated on all 3 sites, fair and square.

How many active initiatives are there by the Arab World to reciprocate, combat terrorism, define terrorism, campaign against war and occupation, lobby for non-interference, bring Israeli war criminals to justice ..

October 18, 2009

Ever click the "Contact us" link on a company's web site and suddenly your email program kicks in making it double annoying that you now have to wait till it starts and then close it, wasting your time and trying your patience.

What idiot company manager does not care about pissing off the customers that decide to contact his company, if it serves no other purpose than gaining new clients and keeping current customers happy, why bother have a web site?

What idiot webmaster that knows not the difference between "email us" and "contact us", probably you're right to be thinking he must be working for the exact same idiot manager that does not even bother to check every link on his web site.

Rant over.

Now to cripple such annoyances by idiots that have no business being in business, here's my neat and simple solution to preventing stupid email addresses disguised as Contact Us links from wasting your time:

Simply remove your web browser email application association

In simpler terms, when you click on an email link, your web browser will just not know what to do and present you with a list of email applications asking if you'd like to start any of them, to which you can simply click "Cancel"

For every email program on the left like Outlook, Windows mail ..Click the program name > Choose Defaults > Unselect "MAIL TO" then Save(Requires Administrator Privileges)

Coming soon my take on web site designers that think every visitor to their sites has 10 minutes of their lives to waste for a useless flash rotating logo to load, on second thought let's get this one out of the way since we're here.

For the love of God add a "Skip Intro" link for those of us that can't spare the time, or those that have already enjoyed your unquestionable mastery of logo rotation, or just those that have a life!And for those tricky little bastards that add the "Skip Intro" link but make it tiny and hide it to the far right or deep bottom: You are disgusting and rude.

Second Rant over.

You can all go back now to your happy lives, watching CNN or reading the papers for more news about injustice and politicians betraying humanity, hey, since we're here, have you heard the US representative speech to the UN Human Rights Council on how the Goldstone's report (pdf) is "unbalanced" in not being "even handed" when weighing the thousands of women and children killed in Ghaza by an F16 and Apache Helicopter equipped army against the 2 killed in Israel by home made Palestinian rockets? The Israeli's speech almost had me in tears when he said he knows not what to tell his "Peace Loving" people back home about this report that will slow down their zealous dream for peace and negotiation, I did not cry because I was busy wondering how people can keep a sreaight face while lying, I guess that's what they call politics.

Don't worry, I'm not going there, not today anyway.Third Rant is Not over!

September 13, 2008

Imagine there is a divine deal where we can trade one day from your life for an hour with anyone you want to be with, someone who passed away, someone who passed you by, a lost love, a departed friend, a father, mother or a sister, anyone you would like to spend one hour with and you are willing to trade one day from your life for that hour.

You have no control over what that person wants to do in that hour, you cannot get them to do or say anything they wouldn't want to talk about or do, just one very real hour. This is not a fantasy dream fulfillment service (ehm. divine deals are respectable, right?), but the exchange of one day from your lifespan with one hour with someone you want to be with living or dead but can't.

- Who would you choose and why?

- Will this deal become an addiction?

- Will people trade away the rest of their lives?

Again imagine you can again trade one day in your life for someone else to have an additional one hour in theirs, would you make the sacrifice? and for whom?

Now think what that last day in your life could have been spent doing, fulfilling a promise, loving someone, accomplishing a breakthrough in your field, curing cancer, writing a poem, letting someone know that you love them, winning the lottery and making sure your loved ones are well taken care of..

I am certain that most people reading this would take the fist deal and hesitate about the second, interesting how little we humans value a day in our life, how many memorable days can you count that idled by, where nothing much happened to remember them by? How many days do we deliberately dedicate to nothing much of value or to doing something we hate doing?

Perhaps when realizing what a day in our life can be worth we would treat our days differently, as a gift or as a currency, make better use of each and every day we get as if it was a gift, a divine gift, perhaps by just realizing that, we would be more reluctant to trade our days for an hour or ten hours.

The uncertainties in life make it more interesting and an adventure, the only loss is by wasting a moment of it and not treating it as a gift.

August 11, 2008

Having switched to a new laptop (long story short, broke yet another one), it came with Vista and IE7 Grrr...

I just spent the better part of an hour researching the M$ help for ways to disable the middle mouse autoscroll "feature" in IE7

For those not suffering this monstrosity, autoscroll is what happens when you press your middle mouse button then move the mouse, you get what looks like a compass circle on your screen and now the page can scroll up, down, left or right with the mouse movement.

The official response is that you cannot disable autoscoll in IE7, although there are urban legends floating around that setting the vertical scrolling to 1 or 'one page at a time' inside your Control Panel Mouse properties Wheel tab. No, this does not stop autoscroll.

Firefox on the other hand is smart and gracious enough to provide us with an option:

Options > Advanced, General tab to turn off autoscrolling.

Adding insult to injury, here's another easy way to turn off autoscroll in Firefox:

Type about:config in the the Firefox address bar, scroll down to general.autoscroll, double click it and bingo, no more autoscroll.

All that's missing in Firefox is a button that uninstalls Windows Vista and IE7 !

August 03, 2008

It's been a while since my last post, I know, I've consciously avoided blogging at high saturation anger times, mostly because at those times one is not able to put together coherent organized thoughts or even come up with anything that would make any sense, just like turning up the stereo volume to the max all you're going to end up with is off peak incomprehensible saturated noise.

I just realized for the first time in my 40 something years how much what you expect from yourself and what you expect from others around you matters in how happy a life you lead. Amazing you might think that it took over 40 years for such a revelation to dawn upon me, better late than never.

What to expect from oneself:High expectations is a driving force towards pushing oneself that extra bit to become a better person, to learn more, to earn more, to impress that girl, to be a better parent, or even to just get up in the morning and go to work!

Self expectation is like a human's back bone, and the lack of or distortion of higher self expectation and standards is what regularly populates our prisons, orphanages and the political scene. Self expectation has a dark side, it can be a whip and a cruel one. Somehow we are able to confuse dreams and upgrade them into expectations, only those of us that manage to put a plan and rationally map their way to their target have a chance to make it through the frustration.

What to expect from others:Now this is exactly why I took a break from blogging, you simply cannot survive if evil, corruption, selfishness, apathy or greed.. surprises and gets you each and every time, it is madness to expect a perfect world, and suicide if you allow yourself to get dragged down with each of the seven sins.

The moment you reach helplessness or desperation know that you have just crossed the healthy allowable threshold of what you should expect from yourself or others, take a step back and trace the path of what got you there, then take a step forward and chart your way towards doing something about it and never allowing yourself to be overwhelmed again by your own or other's short comings.

Believe me, if you allow yourself a moment to take what I just said in, you might just become a happy and content person, as for myself, I decided to invest my moment in writing this post, guess I'm doomed to remain aone pissed Arab..

February 12, 2007

My apologies again to those that cannot read Arabic,but I had to post this Arabic poem in its original language.

The below is a piece by the Egyptian poet Iman BakryCalled "There's nothing!"

Iman Bakry is the publishing manager at the General Egyptian Book OrganizationShe is one brave soul, her recitation brought me to tears laughing, something I have not experienced in years!I only hope she does not lose her job because of this, and I will go now look her up and buy several copies of any book in her name! The last I enjoyed a poem was over 20 years ago, that's how good this lady is!

For those really eager for an English translation, although it might lose 99% of its meaning and soul, I'll do it later when I have more time.

As for those that would like to watch her recite it, you can do it on YouTube here.

December 29, 2006

Few hours ago, Iraq's president Saddam Hussein was executed, after a long struggle with his own demons, his enemies, his people, his captors, and finally a kangaroo court Saddam Hussein is between the hands of his creator pending his final judgment.

Saddam is at peace today but he left us all with troubling questions:

Why didn't Saddam fight off the occupation? What made him brutal against his own people and neighbors, how will history judge him? Do "they" really think they will achieve peace in Iraq now? Is Iraq better off today, was justice really met, who killed Saddam, who is killing in Iraq today?

I can only see only more violent deaths for Iraqis, Americans, British,... the world.

September 16, 2006

"It was certainly not the intention of the Holy Father to undertake acomprehensive study of the jihad and of Muslim ideas on the subject, still lessto offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful."

While it is not as explicit as some would have hoped, as it still does not address what offended Moslems world wide in his statements, specifically the misrepresentation of history, I believe everyone should move on, a fire extinguished I hope.

September 14, 2006

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached"

As instructed by Islam the religion of peace, Moslems hold a great deal of reverence and respect to all Christians and the Pope, and the absolute majority of Moslems are against violence targeting civilians, the past half a century has been very difficult on Moslems trying to defend their faith and land against vultures from every land and religion, which naturally gave birth to the likes of Binladen.

Coming from a Byzantine or a neo Zionist, those words may pass, but from the Pontiff it is very harsh and cruel, speaking ill not about today's radicals (whom all we all are against), but about our beloved Prophet Mohamed is a grave matter and with repercussions, radicals on both sides of the fence will jump on this opportunity, and ignite an already volatile world.

Historic facts and the our book the Quoran are enough proof against Pope Benedict's quote, and I will not dwell upon it further, all I can say is that I am very disappointed and dread the repercussions.

Oh I get it now, this is the new game in townTie up the word Islam with everything the public fears and hate, have Rumsfeld and other parrots repeat it, appear to be heroes liberating the world from an old enemy, get the public support to fill up your own pocket and lube it with oil that is not yours while you are at it, brilliant.

Want to bet what is next on their propaganda agenda?Expect to hear the words "Islamic Supremacy" a lot, if you do, come back and tell me that I was right, it is the next logical step in a well calculated neo-Zionist totalitarian plan by the elite that currently govern the USA.

Be careful what you label people, they might look it up and find it to be a good idea given enough injustice and pressure, if coal can turn to diamond with pressure and heat, humans are not stronger.

Stop feeding your people hate speech, in the process they will hate themselves and you for it. Do the decent thing, give the world peace or go eat another pretzel.

July 27, 2006

This Arab is currently too pissed to express coherently how he feels, for years I have warned the forces of arrogance that their utter idiocy is thinning down the moderates in the Arab world, I warned that America's brute force and their support for the cancerous Zionist entity (aka Israel) will light up an already volatile region, but the blood thirst of both draconian regimes has surpassed any call for shame, disgrace, logic, humanity, common sense or rationale.

To my American readers imagine for one moment North Korea going to war against Taliban and Binladen, and succeeding in what your president failed to accomplish, how would the victims' families of 9/11 feel towards North Korea?

This is exactly how EVERY SINGLE ARAB feels today about Hizballah and Hasan Nasrallah, without exception, no exclusions including this very pissed Arab!

America's support, financing, arming and veto to the blood thirsty Zionist's benefit was the last fig leaf to be taken off and reveal how tiny its regard for human life is.

Today Al Qaeda must be suffering from only one thing: Inability to train & arm the hundreds of thousands that must be willing to join them today if they could.

Suddenly Palestinians are not alone, each murdered child, each screaming mother, each teenager that lost a father, mother or a sister is a future guided missile into the heart of the Zionist entity and whoever supports it.

And the straw that broke the camel's back was the American shameless declaration that whoever fights Israel's occupation is a terrorist! You have just branded and labeled every warm blooded decent human being fighting oppression and occupation as a terrorist! You drew a line around Israel and made every decent human being Israel's enemy and yours with this unjust label.

You have just signed up the world for tens of years of war & destruction against Israel and America, congratulations George W. Bush, hope your arms deals and oil business commissions are worth the innocent lives you have just written off, your grand children and their children will be ashamed of carrying your name.

If John The Ripper today declares war on Israel and the US he will find millions to join his army, as for the smart well spoken morally justified Hasan Nasrallah, you have just elevated him to a prophet rank, dead or alive, he won already, and you have nothing but fear and defeat to look forward to no matter what the outcomes of your current adventures are.

The moderates of the world have to deal with Israel, the US, their own regimes, and now, because of you, have to deal with extremists that you are breeding in Afghanistan, Iraq and everywhere else in the world.

As a self-defined moderate I am against occupation, against war, against injustice wherever it is, I am for humanity, compassion, peace and respect for human life, today I find myself neither this nor that, I am carrying the fire storm of anger within me, and every single person I know feels the same. Congratulations George W. Bush!1PA

June 22, 2006

Imagine for a minute you can read people's thoughts, their first impression of you, their inner most sadness and worries, their moments of weakness and the greed.. I doubt if you will want this ability long, I would either isolate myself in the confines of a windowless room or take my own life.

Knowing everything is a burden that can only be handled by God.

Now imagine you live totally unaware of the events that directly impact your everyday life, changes in the laws of your country, new prices for the things you use everyday, new medical discoveries for your illness, new diseases on the loose in your town.. These are MUST know things, and your very survival can depend on knowing them.

Knowing the essential bits can seriously impact your life.

So now you are probably thinking to yourself: So what, I need to know some essentials and do not need to know everything, what's the big deal?

Not so fast! Think again, first of all you have no choice whatsoever regarding the volume of news and information dumped onto your head everyday, if you seek moderate (relevant to your life) bits of news, you will still get a news dump. There is no QUANTITY control.

Second, you guessed it right, QUALITY & reliability of news and information.I switch between the BBC, Aljazeera, CNN and AlArabeya when there is a political event I need to follow.Only with the 4 of them can I come up with a conclusive personal point of view untainted by external factors, but to get there I have quadrupled the QUANTITY factor, more irrelevant side bits and peaces of news get dumped onto my poor brain!

Forget the TV & Radio, let's get the exact bits of info from the Internet, the cutting edge, the information age, the new millennium .. (ok maybe not this one)

The internet's potential to assimilate and deliver exactly what you are seeking is a challenge taken on by the likes of Google, and their technology is still with flaws, vulnerable to human greed and is still in its infancy, but where I am heading is somewhere else..

How many times did you open a web browser page, found exactly what you are looking for, then turned off your computer?

Me too, ZERO times, there is always that witty side comment, that well placed related link, that flashing in my face ad that I can't resist exploring, that's what makes the Internet a successful medium, and that's exactly what I don't need: Yet another lateral information dump on my head.

The images of blood and devastation is not for everyone, the number of humans dying from diseases, wars or utter stupidity used to be a privilege only for God, now anyone with a radio knows too much.

The amount of injustice in this world is staggering, the tyranny is no longer hidden, the suffering is amplified, our skin is getting thicker towards other people's suffering, otherwise we won't survive the information storm age, we have to be less sympathetic, forget faster and move on with our life, we have to become less human to remain alive.

While writing this I was watching a report on AlArabeya showing beautiful little girls and their mother in Palestine whose house is about to be torn down for the Israeli Wall, her husband died recently out of sorrow and she has no where else to go after they take her home, my heart sank, my anger rose, and my helplessness turned to self contempt, actually forget all the above, I'd rather know and pay the price, it is nothing compare to the real victims in the news, and yes, I will remain a human, a very pissed human!1PA

May 01, 2006

"A Colorado congressman told a radio show host that the U.S. could "take out" Islamic holy sites if Muslim fundamentalist terrorists attacked the country with nuclear weapons."

Now we have said it repeatedly and heard it said to us, that in every basket there can be a rotten apple, and that the views of one person do not represent a nation, applies to us striking Binladen off as much as the US Congress with congressman Tom Tancredo.

The idiocy is two fold:a) The unchecked answerable to no one retaliation, bully doctrine & attitude that the current US regime seems to have borrowed from its little sister Israel.b) The total disrespect to what Billions consider wholly and sacred.

When Taliban were shelling out of ignorance historic monuments in their own country the world led by the US screamed to the horror & lack of sensitivity towards culture and world heritage.. And Taliban by all measures are closer to the cave man than this civilized, well educated refined politician in the nation that leads the world (hopefully not by example)

And what would be the answer to such an unimaginable atrocity like bombing Mecca? How do you think billions of sane calm reasonable human beings should react? I shudder at the thought!

This is an old story, and most probably this congressman represents no one in those views, his lack of sense and sensitivity is obvious, also his disregard to his own country's security is clear.

Goes to show you that a person in office with political responsibilities is not necessarily sane, happens here, in the US and everywhere else.1PA

February 18, 2006

It was not a surprise when George W. Bush announced the plan to reduce the US dependency on Oil as the main source of energy 75% by 2025. And to be honest it will be to everyone's benefit, the US will cure its oil addiction from "unstable" dealers, the Middle East will finally enjoy a little more stability and less 'friendly intervention' in its affairs, Arab rulers will be forced to come up with creative ways to sustain development and learn some resource allocation and allow more democracy ..

But the US of A should not be the only nation looking after its own people's interests and let's not forget what made this region unstable in the first place, things like US, British and French occupations, plantation of a cancerous Zionist entity in the heart of an Arab Islamic nation, nourishment of tyrants and dictators, selling weapons, war!.. But that's another post anther day!

All this raises the legitimate question of 'what next?' for the oil revenue dependant nations, unless they act quickly and buy into the future, they are more than likely to be left out of the future all together. Arab nations need a mindset change, this natural resource must be seen as the right of the future generations, it is sickening that they have been splurging and squandering from their grandchildren's piggy banks. Unless Gulf rulers quickly introduce accountability and transparency in how current and future oil earnings will be spent , their children will be doing it from cages the Saddam way very soon.

Let's for a minute put aside how much money was wasted and focus on buying a ticket into the future:

Arabs have 2 choices at the moment, none of which involve pumping out oil like there is no tomorrow as the Saudi Oil minister announced right after the George W. Speech.

a) Reduce oil production by 75% to give future generations a fighting chance, still earning the poorest oil country triple what they need to sustain themselves and grow at the current prices.

But prices will double and triple, economies will halt, the world will become unstable if oil prices rise. You know what, so be it, if this unstable region is bothering right wing radical US governments, let them deal with the fallout of their own decisions, if more democracy is needed, Arab leaders should listen, and democratically ask their people if this is what they should do, if free open markets is what they preach, let's see supply and demand when the owners of these resources slow down the trickle of oil the free market way.

Some will say that Gulf countries would not dare do that, the US will intervene by force to guarantee the continuous flow of oil (rape it out of Gulf lands), my answer to that is one word: Iraq.

So when the dust settles, Gulf countries are richer and their future generations have a better fighting chance.

b) Alternatively, oil rich nations could continue pumping oil but with the following changes:

1- No more export of crude oil, why should other countries make more than oil producers in taxes and purification? You want energy? We'll sell cheaper purified products to your consumers directly, its a free economy right?, you tax it? Deal with your own people on the consequences.

2- Major investment by ALL Arab countries into safe nuclear energy as alternative fuel, unopposed by paranoid unstable US governments.

3- Major investments in training & R&D by all Arab countries in the fields of wind power generation, solar energy, hydrogen fuel cells.. If you can't beat them, join them.

All this should have happened anyway, even before the US declaration of independence, but better late than never.

The more you think about it, the more you will discover how oil (or the lack of it) can contribute to the inevitable development of this unstable region.1PA

September 08, 2005

Hosni Mubarak chose to give the Egyptian people a menu of unknowns in the form of presidential candidates when he restricted the election eligibility to political parties, parties that he personally approves and licenses, parties that he and his National Democratic Party have oppressed and trimmed down for years, and in the process eliminated Egyptian's right to get viable candidates.

Mubarak is and will remain the dominant candidate for the presidency not because Mubarak has been the best thing that happened to Egypt since the river Nile! Mubarak was is and will remain in power because Mubarak chooses so!

I write today about popular distortions found on opposition, government and independent Egyptian media:

Mubarak has been positive while other candidates built their campaign on attacking Mubarak's rule..Mubarak has access to numbers and true statistics (I hope) while no other Egyptian let alone presidential candidate has ever been given believable statistics. Mubarak is holding the wallet while others are only guessing what's in his pockets, Mubarak has an army of government employees that can and will draw forecasts and plans that will never be made available to others, if you are a presidential candidate all you have to build on are complaints, accordingly it is natural that your slogan will be about change and promises of correcting injustices and mistakes.

Mubarak is to be thanked and congratulated for giving more freedomAs far as I know Egyptians are not born slaves to be "given" freedom by Mubarak or anyone else, it is Mubarak who took away their freedom, so obviously it is Mubarak who can give back some or all freedom, why should anyone be thankful for getting part of their birth right?I would have been more optimistic if Mubarak's gesture was not tainted by pressure from the US of A, no one can deny it as it has been well documented and can be proven by anyone with access to a home computer!

Mubarak did not need the illegal actions by the few who were buying off voters and is not responsible for their actions.Not true, obviously if you are the manager of thieves you are responsible for their actions, governments have been toppled or resigned for less! It reflects on your leadership abilities if you are not aware, and it poses serious questions about your honesty when your staff repeatedly forge for years and years, specially if you stand to benefit from those actions!

Mubarak is the obvious choice due to experience!Nonsense, it took him years to master the skills needed to rule, and he gave No One the same opportunity.

It is always expected to have incidents of forgery as Egypt is new to democracy! Change has to be gradual..What? People will go crazy if they are given the security of not being prosecuted under emergency laws? They will run naked in the streets if they are faced with 2 or more viable candidates?It is this exact doctrine that has plagued the Egyptian minds after years of brain washing, settling for less, tolerating and expecting dishonesty are all the results of years of oppressive self serving regimes.

No one has the right to question Mubarak's financial status and the sources of his wealth.No, Mubarak as the leader is working for the Egyptian people, he should be accountable to all Egyptians with no immunity any way you cut it, western democracy makes him accountable, Islamic rule laws makes him accountable!

Mubarak is a war hero, he is the one who planned the air strike of the 1973 war and he is more qualified to run the country.Give him a medal and a hefty retirement bonus, throw him a party, or even build him a statue and name a major street after him, but this does not justify his ruling Egypt for 30 years! Egypt is full of war heroes living and dead, planning and overseeing a successful air strike 32 years ago is not a personal trait to qualify a presidential candidate over another in this day and age, being grateful is one thing, 30 years of mismanagement is another!

Mubarak is loved by the majority of EgyptiansPerhaps true for some, but you have to ask verses who? Who has been given the chance under Mubarak's rule to serve the people and gain their love and trust? Mubarak's rule has been actively castrating any rising candidate, aborting early any chance for competition, point and case Amr Mousa the star that was banished into the Arab League.

This blog by definition is about "Change", accordingly I congratulate the population of Egypt on tasting this "Margin of Democracy" it is exciting to think of the future for a change, and as I predicted here, I am totally ungrateful!1PA

August 26, 2005

Could someone please tell Hosni Mubarak that he is not only embarrassing himself, but he is embarrassing all Egyptians in his elections statements.When he goes on public record with statements like: Egypt cannot afford to go to war, Egyptians will not find food, drink and services if they go to war ..This is defeatism to say the least, where is the dignity and pride in being an Egyptian, a country that if managed well can not only feed itself, but can feed the whole Arab world!Where is the Army that has the lion's share of the Egyptian annual budget? Mr. Mubarak, Egyptians can and will surprise you.Another Elections promise is to double the salaries of government employees!!Is Egypt going to borrow more money to cover this?Have those employees reached their optimum number and efficiency in productivity? And even if yes, is it wise to overburden the rest of the population ? Can Egypt afford it?What are the repercussions and how will this reflect on prices?He will create millions of jobs.. Yeah Right!He will give away lands.. Whose Land ?Then what were you doing in the past 24 years? Giving Egyptians telephones that work and new sewer systems? If my grandmother (God rest her soul) was in power she would have achieved more! If Egypt was under foreign occupation it would have seen more progress!!This is all highly embarrassing, resist the urge to remain in power, be the first Egyptian president to resign, get out alive for a change, stop humiliating yourself and all Egyptians, Please!1PA

June 26, 2005

a) MegalomaniaSpecially infectious in blogger circles, I don't know why but once a normal human being gains the coveted title of "Blogger" he or she start exhibiting signs of sudden depth and wisdom, if you look at the one and two liners that most bloggers jolt describing themselves and their blogs you will know what I am talking about.

b) Carpal Tunnel SyndromeWhile some would dispute that this is a Personal Computer (PC) specific disease, I argue that the PC itself and its keyboard and mouse are as boring as the wheels of a car, the Internet is like the gadgets, v8 Twin Turbo engine and convertible roof that makes you want to go for the ride. My wrists and shoulders are now a testament to the dangers of the Internet

e) BlabbingPerfectly normal companies fall into nonsense blabbing once faced with the challenge of creating a website, the white space on the pages become sort of a challenge, creating points and sections of nothing is one of the symptoms and you get a lot of phrases like:"With the advent of the internet""In the age of Technology"Some extreme cases even forget to include a list of what the company does!! And in hopeless unrecoverable cases they do not include even contact details for their business!

f) HoardingSymptoms of Internet hoarding are more apparent in societies new to the Internet, where people are not sure the information resource will remain accessible and available, hence the urge to "save" and "save as" every thing they think useful or interesting, this disease is the founding stone for many storage companies that are flourishing now selling huge internal and external hard disks.

g) Chronical Split personality - SchizophreniaI am sure you know very well how a timid person can be transformed over the Internet into an aggressive cynical predator, a girl becomes a boy, a boy becomes a dog, a man becomes a child, and an idiot becomes an expert ... You get the point!1PA

June 22, 2005

Does any one remember the Boycott Israel Campaigns that set us all on fire not more than a couple years ago? I guess Israeli aggression is over and the Arab lands have been returned so there is no need to boycott.. Right ?

Remember the campaigns against the Racist wall of separation snaking through Palestine? All the demonstrations must have worked for I am not hearing anyone complaining about the wall anymore!

I must have been dreaming about a rising throughout the world against the war against Iraq, and later against the occupation of Iraq.. Are the Americans out of there yet? Aren't the Iraqis ruling their own land and free from Saddam Hussain?

Remember the Intifada? If not, I don't blame you, we must have been having a group dream, aint that weird ?!!

Then recently there was the rising against the abuse of the Quoraan in Guantanamo, people died in anger, were they fooled?

I know for sure what's hot now, its democracy, great, but the question is till when? Who are all those people suddenly brave enough to speak out against their governments, why are many of them insulting and abusive, do we carry so much hate? Where was that hate few months or few years ago?Who's deciding what we live and die for? Who's jerking the chains?

How fickle is our enthusiasm, how betraying is our memory, if only we could get the peace and quiet the puppets get late at night when the show is over!1VCPA

May 26, 2005

The Middle East is awakening to the new scent, democracy is "in the air" among other scents... I have blogged my wrist off on the importance of democracy, free speech, dignity and human rights in the Arab world, but there is another side to what's happening, and many do not want any part of it. Here's why:

Imagine there is a beauty queen living right across the street from your house, a dream come true kind of girl that recently became Miss Universe.

Miss Universe is about to make your whole neighborhood famous, you will be giving interviews to International TV channels and newspapers about your memories playing together as kids ..

Now Miss Universe needs to repaint her house to suit her new status, you see, she cannot afford to move to a higher class neighborhood, so it is decided that she will not only paint her house red white and blue, she will paint all the houses in the street with those colors to make the neighborhood suit her "new status", you like her, you like having your house re-painted, you have even been planning to refresh your house paint as soon as you can afford it, you just can't imagine living in a tri-color house, your house, you are also in for a shock when you discover that you don't even have a say about it!

Miss Universe has already deployed painters on every roof in your street merrily tri-coloring the neighborhood! Your next door neighbor started to tri-color his house long before the painters arrived, and the one next to him refused to have his house tri-colored unless he pays for it from his own pocket in full! Another neighbor is taking money to allow the painters in, another neighbor his house was taken over by a thief and will allow the tri-colors if he has a chance to win his house back, as for the rest, they cannot be bothered to even consider that something wrong is happening.. You are beginning to feel like your neighborhood is an asylum and you are the only sane one left!

Again, you want your house painted! You just can't stand someone else force painting your house, and in colors that don't suit your taste! Miss Universe is not painting your house out of generosity, she is doing it for her own interests, and forcing her tri-colors and schedule on every body else, moving out is not an option, what would you do?1PA

April 19, 2005

Alarabiya just broke the news of Qatar taking away the citizenship from 6000 of its citizens and expelling them, I did not tune in time to get the full story or the reasons, but I am VERY interested to know if and how and when Aljazeera Tv will handle it.

Aljazeera has been both impressing me and getting on my nerves since its day one, I always liked the spicy hot coverage and considered it an excellent source of alternative news (note that I do not consider its news fully reliable) I regard it as an institution going through puberty and in its teen years it is interesting but professionally ANNOYING.

Back to Qatar, Aljazeera handles Qatar related news and issues with white gloves while other countries are strictly handled gloves off. That makes Aljazeera justifiably appear as biased, and compromises all their claims of being a "pedestal of truth"

Worth noting here, as an Arab, I still tune to Aljazeera before CNN any day for Middle East related breaking news!

One other thing, every time I see Alhurra Channel in my program list I remember the old saying "Yankee Go Home" No one is watching it and it is neither respected nor believed down here, so save your Congress and tax payer money and spend it on Palestinian kids, maybe that would touch someone's heart for a change!

I am still very curious as to why a country would expel 6000 of its citizens, Did Qatar just loose 0.6% of its population ?? I am not sure if something like this has ever happened elsewhere, but will follow Aljazeera closely for details if they ever air it :)1PA

March 25, 2005

Can't tell you how impressed I was when I first watched Sami Yusuf's song "Moalem", a beautiful song about the love and appreciation of prophet Mohamed (PBUH), Sami's warmth of voice, modern look, beautiful music and topic that cannot miss the heart of any Moslem ..

The modern take was much much needed in bringing closer religion amidst the younger generations, we are used to this topic being covered dramatically by ancient actors, boring music, slow talking over-acting did I say boring again? It is! But taking it into the video clip age is an accomplishment worth noting.

Another Islamic Superstar is in the making, he is ready to join Amr Khaled and Moez Masoud and others in the hall of fame of those that have touched the lives of both teenagers and older generations through modernization in presenting Islam, note well: Not modernizing Islam itself, there is a difference!

Back to Sami, a LOT is riding on this guy, that is why I have to be totally frank here, after the "Moalem" song I saw another two, they where pathetic repetitions of his first song, the last of which was about "Mothers".

Sami, unless you intend to be another one song star, you seriously need to re-invent yourself, a religious song needs not be so sad and morbid, people don't like that, you need to get yourself a good writer and composer, repeating the same music over and over is plain boring, you are competing for air time and the attention of audience used to striptease, so take your mission seriously and rise up to the challenge. Oh and you need good marketing too, I think this says it all.

Wishing Sami a long successful career and looking forward to his new productions, a good role model would be Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)I hope this does not offend Sami's fans, just please keep in mind that I am not writing to make friends.1PA

March 16, 2005

A storm is brewing in the Islamic world over Dr. Amina Wadud's leading the Friday prayer in a New York mosque. I heard her speaking and I did not find her offering any explanation (religious or otherwise) as to why she is stirring an unneeded controversy in this TIME and PLACE!

Here is a half-witted statement from the "organizers" shedding light by saying "this event is about Muslim women reclaiming their rightful place in Islam"What ?? I guess Moslem women's list of demands is nearing the bottom of the list!

My point is:- Moslem women's struggle IS to re-claim what Islam has originally given them, and what deep rooted social traditions have taken from them in some countries.e.g. Inheritance, right to manage her own money, and run her own business, freedom to marry & divorce whoever and whenever, freedom to refuse her husband's taking on another wife whthout her consent, right to have her husband or brother fully cover all her financial needs from their own money ..NB. Islam gave women more rights than "western" women enjoyed until only 50 years ago, and in many countries until today.

- I understand why the Friday speech and prayer is led by a man, and if you think it's racist, please point me to where I can find the name of the last woman that held the Pope position, and the name of the church where the sermon is led by a nun. And as far as I know female Rabbis are hard to find!

- I would be more than willing to change my view if anyone can tell me how this woman's leading the Friday prayer will serve Islam better in New York and all over the world.

- All they managed to do is stir unnecessary controversy about a trivial issue, and in the process stamp Moslems with gender discrimination, and giving room for some dumb ass to come out and scream his stupid lungs about how this is against Islam and how that prayer will not be accepted!

Please have mercy on Islam, all of us women and men need to first apply Islam in our daily life, be merciful, humble, forgiving, charitable, loving, working hard .. Then the world will see Islam for what it truly is, a religion of peace and love, some over zealous and badly timed actions like this one are setting us back many years.One final note: I am not even a religions person, I am just one angry Moslem right now!OnePissedArab 1PA

March 12, 2005

For non-Arabic readers, these are the lyrics of an Arabic song called the "Arab Dream" which is about a dream for peace, unity, optimism, positive attitude, and hope. I find it very appropriate to post here as it is one of the very few "large group" productions in the Arab world, sung by many artists from all around the Arab world, done in the "We are the World" style, the effort is very befitting the meaning in the song itself, I am very touched every time it plays, as it reminds me of the older generations' dream for unity of the Arab world, and at times when Iraqis and Palestinian children were being bombed by people that have no right to be in their land or skies, it provokes a deeper meaning inside all of us, one of anger, helplessness and disgust.

March 07, 2005

1400 years ago, Prophet Mohamed peace be upon him (PBH) and 317 of his followers went against 950 infidels, the Moslems had only 3 horses while the infidels had around 100, at a time when a horse was the equivalent of today's tank. Outnumbered one to three, the Moslems came out victorious, not by a miracle of God or any supernatural intervention, it was by pure belief in what they were fighting for. Only 17 Moslems died and the infidels fled defeated.

This not a religious or a historical blog, but there are a couple of points to be made here:

Prophet Mohamed PBH CONSULTED his followers on where to best confront the infidels, he had originally chosen a location by the now well known "Badr" water well, one of the prophet's followers asked if this location was by any inspiration from God, when the prophet said no, the follower then asked for the place to be changed beyond the water well so that the infidels would not have a chance to rest and get water before the confrontation, and it was decided as such. Even the prophet is to be challenged about his own personal judgment, Islam DEMANDS that we use our brains and take noting for granted.

At a time when numbers and gear meant the difference between victory and defeat, belief was the deciding factor. Fast-forward to 2005:

The US is riding the high democracy horse, and arrogantly dictating and demanding, is at the end of the day only superior in terms of gear, they are incessantly rubbing the tip of a dormant volcano, what is confronting them now is just sparks, what lies within the volcano, if not feared and respected will blow in their face, the moral here is : Stop Rubbing ! while it may appear like Bush is succeeding in changing the political landscape, in reality I do not think anyone can quanify the repercussions, it is all cosmetic & artificial change, may look good for a while, but the long term is scary for all involved.1PA

Just for the record and on topic:- I am 101% for the withdrawal, after all they can always come back if Israel gets gun happy again, not that they have been successful in protecting Lebanon or themselves inside Lebanon, but any bump in Israel's way to Beirut is more than welcome.- Other than the obvious benefits for the Lebanese, who else benefits from this withdrawal?- Why the sudden US very late interest in welfare of Lebanon ??More on all this later1PA

On the surface all is well and this move is seen as commendable and brave by a democratic leader sacrificing powers for the sake of "This stage in our nation's history" as Mubarak put it in his speech. Mubarak will be hailed in tomorrow's papers as the leader that freed the "slaves", built the pyramids, single handedly defeated Israel in the 1973 war, the man of the people, a man that listens to his people, the leader of the whole Arab nation that leads by example, You know the routine..

But still I cannot digest this move for the following reasons:Lets go less than one week back:1) Mubarak refuted any plans for constitutional reform before the next elections.2) A couple of days ago, the ruling party (National Democratic party) after meeting with the opposition parties leaders came out and announced that a) They accept the constitutional amendment after the next elections and b) They "ALL" are unified in their refusing demands for reform coming from outside Egypt

Now is Mubarak fluctuating in his decisions ? Not at all! It has been planned very well, first get them to lose hope, then give the hope back and appear as the "Giver"

Now Mubarak is simply under too much external pressure (the wet cat in his lap) from the United Bush of America to get his act together and fast, and there was no avoiding it. After all if Mubarak is really giving in to the demands of "his people" then he must have just replaced the batteries in his hearing aid. The public have been screaming for reform, and the opposition only grew recent ballz when they felt the external pressure.

So I am not digesting any of it because it looks like another scene in the same redicioulous play that we have all watched 4 times before, Mubarak gets to win this election too, and whoever succeeds George Bush, will be left to deal with it.

Here is your litmus test: IF there is no talk about inserting in the constitution a text limiting the number of times a president can renew, THEN this is your sign that all cannot be well and its just another scene forced by "Today's Nation's necessities". If I were you I would keep my fingers crossed and my hopes down!

Also I have a nagging feeling that the Egyptian's People's Assembly should immediately resign, those puppets are only rubber stamps for whoever is in power, they failed miserably in representing the people that voted for them. If they were unable to induce this constitutional change without being instructed to do it, then they represent no one, and should pack and go, simple and clear.

Another nagging feeling is the (much discussed in this blog) feeling of insult with Mubarak's clear message that this is not done due to internal pressure (see points 1 & 2 above) and with Condy and Bushy demanding reform in Egypt and Saudi Arabia every time a microphone is put in their hands, it is obvious where the pressure on Mubarak is coming from, if you do not do good for your people's sake then you cannot do good, also clear and simple!

Anyway, congratulations to whoever caused this, and to Mubarak in case I am wrong about his intentions and motives.1PA

February 12, 2005

I find it hilarious and bordering on the obscenely ridiculousSimon Says Have elections (Saudi Holds Baladeya Elections)Simon Says Make Good with Israel (Mubarak receives Sharone)Simon Says Hold your noseSimon Says Pay up (Gathafi pays)Simon Says Look Busy (Iraq elects interim government)Simon Says Stand on one FootSimon Says Stop Killing your own people (Sudan)Simon Says I need a foot rest (Qatar pays for US air base)Simon Says I need Toilet paper, many offer their hands..Simon Says No Intifada .. No Intifada it is

Simon has been saying a lot lately, and the "or else" is too obvious, so like programmed robots, our Arab Governments are not even questioning anymore, our leader's noses are buried too deep down there to see, their view is not changing much lately, and they seldom come up for air !I wish I was a cartoonist to paint this picture !

That was the hilarious part, as for the ridiculous, Simon is ordering basic things, legitimate rights we all crave, yet to all of us the image is so obscene and humiliating, it carries the same helpless feeling as watching your father being slapped on the face!

Want my $0.02, as soon as Simon looses interest or breath and stops "Saying", every thing will revert to "same old .. same old", what will remain will be the sour taste in our collective mouths. Simon will see us as ungrateful, we will see Simon as just another name in our list of oppressors.

January 16, 2005

- President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, my last question, are you thinking of continuing to rule Egypt? Would you like to remain ruling?

- I want to tell you something about ruling Egypt, ruling Egypt is not a trip, not an easy matter, ruling Egypt is a very difficult matter, you have limited resources, you have a huge population, you have many demands by the people, all this makes me exert a tremendous effort, and I have established relationships with other countries, so they can help in any needed matter, as much as we can, like employing our people and other things to get resources for our people, the ruling of Egypt is not an easy matter, AND GETTING OUT OF IT IS NOT EASY, if it was up to me I wish I can rest, since my day of graduation as a junior officer to this day I have been in non-stop intensive labor, I was surprised to become vice president, when Anwar (Sadat) passed away, and we cannot leave the country, I had to take on the responsibility (presidency), and the responsibility is difficult, very difficult, also the president of Egypt is not a citizen that can go out and have fun in the streets, forget it, I don't know the roads now, yes I get driven every where, but I don't know where .. Sometimes I am surprised by what I see in Cairo, but when I go to the country-side and governorates, I am able to sometimes walk in the streets, but I meet all the people, like when I was in Aswan, I met the citizens there, in a convention, anyone could attend, we talked and I explained to them, and anyone with a question, I answer it frankly, and if the issue is sensitive I would tell them that I can't honestly answer your question, it would hurt us, if I say the truth I would be as if I am showing cards that can be used by any enemy that would strike us with it, the presidency of Egypt is a difficult matter ..

"They" did spread rumors way back, once I was told, don't hire a vice president, it will be as if - a while back someone sent me a letter - it will mean that he (vice president) will be the president of Egypt, like I was Vice President and became the president of Egypt, but it was my circumstances that it happened this way.
They say the president is preparing his son (for presidency), I am not preparing my son, my son is looking after problems, my son is helping me, like Chirac's daughter is helping him (Jack Chirac), it's not a problem, also for one to be the president of Egypt, it is by the will of the people, if the people don't want you, there is nothing you can do, and if the people want you, you will not be able to leave, not easily, I can do like "some" and say I am leaving, there will be an uprising and demonstrations and destruction (of public property) and then I say I will stay, I don't like to commit such "inappropriate" acts, I am serious man in my work, I work from the morning till bed time, every day, every day, people's problems, I hear stuff ..

- Do you have time to see your grand children ?
- "By the way" a little when I am free
The End
1PA essential comment:
The above is a Word for Word translation of president Hosni Mubarak's answer to the last question in an interview on Al Arabeya TV broadcasted on January 16th 2005
I am out of comments!
1VPA

December 31, 2004

The Arab media struggled hard and failed to end 2004 on a positive note, the year has been a disaster on every level, and for every interviewer asked, none could see any light at the end of the tunnel, looks as if the Arab world is still falling with no bottom in sight, accordingly the natural thing for this pissed Arab is to forecast the light and seek the bottom !

I will never forget a friend called Huwaida, sort of an ambassador of human kindness & purity condensed in a tiny package, one day I was sitting alone feeling bad about a grade, she sat next to me and started humming the "Don't worry be happy" song, which was her personal anthem really ! She asked me if it was that bad, I nodded yes, then without asking why I was so blue she asked "Can it get any worse?" I looked up to her and said no, she did not need to talk anymore, her point was made, somehow in our internal black box there exists a ray of light, when all is getting lost, it is guaranteed that hope is being born somewhere, it is our job to seek this hope, it is our responsibility to hang on to it and use it to lift us when we are down.

Do not get me wrong, this Arab is still very very pissed, but that in no way means that we have to live the doom and gloom mood, being pissed is a form of optimism, when you have high expectations that's how you get pissed, so lets see, what do we have to feel good about?

1) Human NatureEvery morning you wake up a fresh new person, whose soul is cleansed and ready to take on a new day, its up to you to make it good or bad, every morning celebrates the rebirth of new ideas, solutions, and new energy.

2) Loved OnesIn the middle of life's turmoil you are guaranteed to have someone who loves you, sticks to you for the good and bad, pats your back when you have the hiccups .. you get the point !

3) The cyclic nature of thingsIt had been scientifically proven that after every night there is sunrise, every tyrant has an end, every aggressor gets flushed into history's septic tank, you are just there for the ride, so after you have done your best - I mean it, first do your best - sit back and watch things unwind.. Remember the line in Jurassic Park "Nature finds a way"

4) MemoryWhatever is nagging your life today is guaranteed to be a faint memory in few years, we all have this amazing gift called amnesia, factor this into your daily worries, and don't allow any of them to ruin a moment of happiness, for that would be your real loss.
Nothing in our whole existence can compare to a parent's loss of a child, and amazingly, I have seen mothers smiling and even laughing years after the death of their children, they did not forget, but time is the best healer. I don't think any of your problems could even compare to theirs, and lets not forget humanity's ability to forgive too..

5) You are not aloneYou are not the only one with problems, and amazingly it makes humans feel better when they realize that someone has it worse!!

I will end it here before I have to rename this Blog to something more cuddly and mushyAnyway, it is rumored that Bobby McFerrin the artist that sang "Don't worry be happy" committed suicide!
Have a good year.
1PA